Merry Christmas From Pontypandy
by Klouie
Summary: It's Christmas. Ellie is suffering from heartbreak, Penny has to save the Pontypandy Christmas tree, and somehow, Arnold gets dragged into the mix. Will Arnold and Ellie's first Christmas in Pontypandy be a disaster? Or will they pull through?


It was a quiet day in the village of Pontypandy, and Christmas was just a few short, wintery days away.

At the fire station, Ellie sat at the kitchen table, drumming her fingertips on the table. Elvis was attempting to cook a roast dinner for lunch, while Arnold and Sam were watching the midday news on the TV.

So far, they hadn't been called out at all today, which was slightly surprising seeming as Christmas was just around the corner. Ellie had learnt that the people of Pontypandy were quite prone to accidentally setting things on fire, and in the short six months that she and Arnold had been stationed here, they'd had to put out a lot of fires. Apart from that though, Pontypandy was a lovely place where everyone knew each other quite well, unlike Newtown. Ellie had been warmly welcomed into the village and she felt very at home now.

She looked out the window, just in time to see the first few snowflakes falling. "Hey, look!" she pointed eagerly, "it's snowing!" Quickly, she got up from the table to stand at the window, letting herself be captivated by the snow.

Sam and Arnold got up to look. They all stood there, just watching. "Did you know," said Arnold, "that every snowflake is unique, like a fingerprint, or a strand of DNA?" Ellie nodded.

"It's getting heavy", commented Sam. "I hope nobody's on the mountains, it'll be quite dangerous."

"Better call Moose, Sam," called Elvis from the kitchen, "Just check that nobody is up there." Sam nodded.

"Good idea, Elvis," he said, walking towards the phone. "I'll just give him a quick call."

Ellie and Arnold sat down at the table while Sam called Moose. "Nobody up there? That's good, thanks Moose. Yep, yep, I'll see you later."

Sam put the phone down. "Nobody's up there. Apparently, most of the locals are putting up a tree in the park, and they're decorating it." Ellie smiled.

"That'll look amazing. And it hasn't been this quiet for ages," she commented.

"Agreed," said Arnold, as Elvis whistled away in the kitchen. "I would have thought that someone would have gotten stuck on a roof putting lights up by now."

"That was Dilys last year," laughed Sam. "Think she learnt her lesson, though I'm surprised that Norman Price hasn't started a fire yet." They all laughed at that.

Just then, the door downstairs opened and Penny staggered in, covered in snow.

"It's freezing out there!" She shivered as she walked up the stairs. Ellie got up and took her coat, leaving it on a chair near the radiator to dry.

"You're early, Penny," said Arnold, looking at the clock on the wall. It was only 12:15 pm and Penny's shift wasn't due to start until 1 pm.

"Trevor was driving by my house so he gave me a lift. I couldn't bike in this weather." Sam nodded.

"I told him to go home after he dropped me off, because of the snow, so he agreed," continued Penny, taking her snowy gloves off. "And I knew Elvis was cooking a roast today, and I didn't want to miss out."

Everybody laughed loudly as Elvis walked in holding plates full of roast potatoes, chicken as vegetables. Soon, they were all tucking in.

...

Sam and Elvis left after lunch leaving the others to play Cluedo. The snow wasn't as heavy as before, and the room was warm and cosy. Soon, they were all absorbed in the game.

Arnold proved to be a master at it, and he had soon won three rounds. Ellie leaned back in her chair and sighed loudly. "I think we can all agree that Arnold is the Pontypandy champion for Cluedo," she said.

Arnold blushed. "I'm not that good," he said, "my 15-year-old brother is way better than me. And anyway," he added hastily, "Ellie nearly beat me last round."

After that, Penny had to do paperwork and Arnold started reading a book, so Ellie got out her phone and started scrolling through her phone. Arnold's compliment had made her feel funny. She'd known him for a long time since they started at Newtown Fire Academy, but lately, he'd been acting awkwardly around her. Ellie couldn't quite think what was wrong with him.

Sighing, she clicked on Pinterest to look for some Christmas decorations for the fire station. Apparently, it had been Elvis's job to put up decorations the last few years, but he'd been banned after he'd accidentally set some tinsel on fire, according to Penny.

Ellie was just looking through an idea for some lights when she got a text message. She opened up her messaging app and looked at who it was from.

It was her boyfriend, Richard, who was currently working in London. He'd sent a caption that said, "Last night was fun, gotta do it again sometime xxx." Ellie frowned. She hadn't been with him last night, and they hadn't video called either.

Just then, underneath the text, a photo popped up. It was of Richard and another girl, both holding hands and kissing. Ellie gasped. She got up quickly, shaking.

"Everything okay?" asked Penny, looking up from her corner.

"I'm fine," Ellie choked, "I just need to use the toilet." She hurried down the stairs and locked herself in the toilet. She leaned against the door and started to cry.

He'd cheated on her. After all these years. She held in a sob and looked at her phone. It had started to vibrate. Richard was calling her.

She let it go to answerphone, and sat on the toilet, wiping her face with toilet paper.

She and Richard had been together since high school. They'd been devastated when Richard had to go to London for work, but he promised that he'd move to Newtown to be with her as soon as he could.

Wiping her eyes again, Ellie got up. She was startled when someone knocked on the door.

"Are you okay, Ellie?" Arnold asked through the door. "You've been in here for ages and Penny sent me to check on you."

Ellie unlocked the door and stepped out. Arnold looked at her closely. "Are you okay? You've been crying..."

Ellie tried to talk, but she burst into tears all over again. Arnold looked taken aback, and he awkwardly patted her shoulder.

"It's okay, Ellie," he said, trying to be comforting. Ellie just sobbed harder.

By now, Penny had come down the stairs to investigate. "What happened, Ellie?" she gasped, running down the last few stairs. Arnold stepped back as Penny hugged Ellie.

"Richard...cheated...on...me..," Ellie sobbed.

Penny nodded sympathetically and started to lead Ellie up the stairs. "Arnold?" she asked, "could you make some tea?"

"Yes, of course..."

...

It took a full hour for Ellie to calm down. They all sat on the sofa drinking tea, and after a while, Ellie told them what had happened.

"Richard and I had been a couple since high school," Ellie said in a small voice. "And people said we were perfect." She chuckled. "We WERE perfect. And then we left school... he got a job at s big company while I started at the Fire Academy. He had to move to London." She sniffed, and Penny handed her a tissue.

"And he accidentally texted me, and it was a picture of him and another girl. Kissing."

Arnold put an arm around her shoulder. "If he did that behind your back, he's an idiot."

Ellie smiled sadly. "I guess so."

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, until Penny said softly, "Ellie, you can leave early if you want. I'll call Sam back in for you."  
Ellie shook her head.

"No. That's not fair on him," she said, "And I feel a bit better now thanks to you guys."

Suddenly, the alarm went. Penny rushed to Station Officer Steele's office. "There's a small fire at The Wholefish Café!"

Arnold and Ellie got up and followed Penny to the firefighter's pole.

"Ellie, I need you to stay here and man the station, because there's nobody else here," said Penny.

Ellie nodded. "Ok," she said, as she watched Arnold and Penny slide down the pole. She understood why Penny had left her here, and she was grateful.

"Station Officer Steele should be here in 15 minutes to go on duty," called Penny. "Until then, just keep an ear out for any more emergencies!"

They jumped into Jupiter and were gone with a large wail from the siren and a flash of blue light, leaving Ellie on her own.

Slowly, she walked to the bench where she had left her phone. Richard had left hundreds of messages, all begging to be forgiven. Ellie picked up her phone and quickly composed a message.

'Richard. We had a good few years together, but it's over.'

Quickly, she pressed send, then blocked his number. Arnold was right, she thought, he really was an idiot.

The way Arnold had comforted her though... Ellie smiled. At the Academy, he'd been very shy an had kept to himself. They hadn't talked much at all. He was so...

The loud blaring of the alarm interrupted her train of thought, and she ran to the computer.

"A Christmas tree is on fire at Pontypandy Park," announced the computer in its matter of fact tone. Ellie shook her head.

"They just can't not set things alight, can they?" she groaned, picking up her radio communicator. "Penny? There's a fire at the park. A Christmas tree is on fire."

Penny's voice crackled on the other end of the radio. "Okay, we've just finished up here, and we're on our way."

...

Penny drove Jupiter down the narrow streets of Pontypandy. The fire at the café had been relatively minor and had been put out in no time. Charlie had scratched his head and apologised for dragging them out in the cold.

Now, Penny and Arnold were on their way to deal with a fiery Christmas tree.

"How do they do it?" Asked Arnold, as they passed Dilys's shop. Penny laughed.

"I reckon there's something in the water here that makes all of the  
locals accidentally set things on fire," she said.

Arnold thought for a second. "Does that mean even Sam has accidentally set something on fire?"

"As a kid, I think he got up to a lot of mischief," said Penny, "but he's pretty sensible now."

"Have you ever set something on fire, Penny?"

"No, but I did have to be airlifted off Neptune once because I was sick. I tried to keep going when I should have gone home, and I ended up causing more trouble." Penny sighed. "That's why I left Ellie at the station. She's too emotional right now to be called out, and I don't want her getting hurt because of it."

"Yeah," said Arnold looking out of the window.

Penny drove Jupiter into the park, where they were met with the sight of a giant Christmas tree. It would have been quite a beautiful and majestic sight, except for the fact that the tree was on fire. Mike, Trevor, Tom and the kids stood away from it, gazing up at it sadly.

Penny opened the door and jumped out. Quickly, she and Arnold pulled the water hoses out and started dousing the flames. Fortunately, the snow had prevented the fire from spreading too much, and the wet wood was just producing a lot of smoke.

After the hoses had been put away, and Trevor had thanked them, Arnold asked how the tree had caught on fire. Mandy crossed her arms and pointed at Norman.

"It was him! He knocked over a lantern and some grass and the tree caught on fire!"

Sarah and James nodded in agreement. "He was pretending to be a yeti!" added James.

Penny turned towards Norman and sighed. "Norman, it's very dangerous to muck about around lanterns and candles, as you could knock them over and set something on fire."

Norman hung his head and nodded. "Yes, Penny."

Penny turned to the adults. "And," she added sternly, "that lantern shouldn't have been so close to the tree. You should have put it further away."

The adults all mumbled and shuffled their feet, obviously feeling silly about being told off in front of all the kids.

Mandy frowned. "What about our Christmas tree?" she asked, pointing to the slightly burnt tree. Some of the decorations had melted, and a few of the wooden angels hanging on it were charred.

Arnold thought for a second. "You could always decorate the trees by the field," he suggested. "You could use the undamaged decorations and lights."

Tom nodded. "That's a brilliant idea, Arnold! We could even make some wooden decorations from this tree."

Penny nodded. "Just remember to keep your lanterns a safe distance away from the trees, though!"

...

The snow stopped the next day. The sun reflected off the remaining snow, making it shimmer.

Ellie had spent the night at Penny's house, watching movies and talking together. Penny had told her about the flaming Christmas tree.

"It's quite a shame really," Penny had sighed. "It was a lovely tree. But they're decorating the trees by the field now, so it all turned out okay in the end."

They'd spent the rest of the evening making decorations for the fire station, before going to bed at 9 o'clock. They were both on tomorrow's 12-hour shift, and they were both exhausted from the day they'd had.

The next morning, Ellie had driven them to the fire station. As they got out, they could hear loud voices shouting at each other.

Ellie frowned. "You don't think the boys are fighting, do you?"

Penny shook her head. "It's not very like them too."

They both hurried around the corner to see Arnold arguing with another man.

"Ellie isn't here, and she doesn't want to see you!" Arnold was saying furiously to the man. "So leave, please!"

"What's going on here?" demanded Ellie, "and who are - Richard?" She stopped. Her ex-boyfriend stood in front of her.

Richard turned to her. "Ellie!" he cried. "You haven't been answering my texts or calls!" He tried to hug Ellie but she stepped back quickly.

"Why should I?" she asked, her bottom lip quivering.

Richard frowned. "You're still mad at that? Come on Ellie, we all make mistakes - I was drunk!"

"And? That's just an excuse! How long were you going to lie to me for?"

"It doesn't matter! All that's matters is that I'm sorry. Now come on." Richard tugged at Ellie's arm, trying to pull her away.

Arnold blocked him. "She doesn't want to go with you, can't you see that?" he said. Richard frowned.

"Don't you tell me what she wants or doesn't want," he hissed. "Get out of my way!"

Arnold remained standing. By now, Ellie had freed herself and was standing next to Penny, who had an arm around her.

"I remember you," Richard snarled at Arnold. "You were the biggest wimp at Newtown High School!"

"Stop it, Richard!" Ellie cried. A single tear was rolling down her cheek.

By now, Sam, Elvis and Station Officer Steele had come outside to see what all the noise was. They stopped and took in the whole situation - Ellie crying, Penny with a protective arm around her, and Arnold and Richard seething.

Penny looked coldly at Richard. "I think it's time for you to leave now."

"Ellie's coming with me," Richard said angrily.

"No, she's not," replied Sam, stepping in front of him. Arnold, Elvis and Station Officer Steele joined him, creating a barrier between Ellie and Richard.

"Now," said Station Office Steele, loudly, "leave, please, before I call the police!"

Richard looked at them all, then stalked off. He got into his car and sped off. In seconds, he was gone.

...

All of the firefighters sat at the table, sipping coffee. It was silent. Finally, Ellie broke the silence.

"I'm sorry."

Everyone looked up.

"It's not your fault though," Penny said. "You did the right thing."

"But I dragged all of you into it..." Ellie said softly.

Sam shook his head. "We're your colleagues, but we're also your friends. We wouldn't let him treat you like that."

All of the others nodded. They sat in silence for another few moments, until Elvis spoke.

"So," he said, "what should we do now?"

Penny thought for a second. "Well, I and Ellie made some Christmas decorations last night. Maybe we could decorate the station?"

Elvis nodded eagerly. "Ooh, that's a brilliant idea, Penny."

...

An hour later, everyone was enjoying putting up lights and tinsel. Sam and Elvis had even put a bit of tinsel in Jupiter's cab.

Arnold and Ellie were putting lights up. For a while, they made awkward conversation, until Ellie said, "About earlier... I just wanted to say thank you."

Arnold smiled bashfully. "It's not a big deal," he replied, picking up another strand of lights. "I just hated seeing Richard do that to you."

He finished hanging up the lights and stepped back to look at their work. "I reckon we're done."

Ellie nodded, and together, they walked into the kitchen. Elvis was making steaming mugs of hot chocolate, and he passed them both mugs.

Soon, everybody else had finished draping tinsel everywhere, and they joined Arnold, Ellie and Elvis in the kitchen. Everybody was laughing happily.

Arnold and Ellie looked at each other. They knew their first Christmas in Pontypandy was going to be a good one...


End file.
